Young, Living With No Fear
by gxldentrio
Summary: 'I'm egging your house for a dare but your parent is a cop and they're yelling at me, so i told them that you were my ex and you wronged me and now you're coming outside and please go along with this i don't want to go to jail' AU.


"Fucking _asshole—_ " Lily mutters to herself. It's cold, and she's pissed, and to top it all off she left her cardigan back at Mary's and now all she has is a stupid, half-empty carton of medium-sized eggs.

If Lily were sober, she'd probably think twice before throwing eggs around in the middle of the night, but she's already had a few shots of vodka too many. Besides, it's _Snape,_ so it's not as though what she's doing is actually wrong. She's not an _animal_. Most of the time.

Except, when the door opens, the face that greets her isn't Eileen Prince's familiar one. No, this one belongs to a man, tall and built like a fortress, and Lily swears she's seen him before. She hears Dorcas' soft murmuring and it's only when she makes out a few _'shit'_ s and _'bugger'_ s that Lily finally recognizes the man as the police officer who arrested Mulciber back in March.

"What's going on here?" he says, his booming voice knocking the wind out of Lily's lungs. She's scrambling—ha!—to find a solution when an idea pops into her brain.

If she's not mistaken—and Lily _really_ hopes she isn't—she remembers him having a son, about her age.

"Good evening, sir."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm really, _really_ sorry," she starts, "it's just that, well, this is a bit embarrassing, isn't it?"

Mr.—Potter, was it?—runs his fingers through his already thinning hair and gives her a pointed look, as if to say _'Get on with it.'_ She's grateful he hasn't busted out the police-card yet.

And so, before he gets the chance to do it, Lily blabbers on, "I used to date your son? He sort of, you know—" it's a mess, and Lily's got no idea where she's going with this, but suddenly the front door's opening and, _oh my god, what is he doing here?_

"Dad?" James, from her Mathematics class calls out. Of _fucking course_. "Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine, you can go back inside," Mr. Potter replies, and with a shrug of his shoulders, James turns around. Lily lets out a breath, but then Mr. Potter's eyes light up, and he says, "actually, James, could you come here?"

The 6-foot-something boy trudges over to them. "'Hello, Evans. What's up, dad?" he says, nonchalant, as though he hadn't recognized her fire red hair.

"Miss Evans here," Mr. Potter begins, "was just telling me that you two dated." James' eyes practically bulge out of their sockets, and Lily's cheeks are so warm she feels like she's about to pass out. "How come you've never mentioned it?"

Lily widens her eyes at James, silently pleading with him to just go along with it, but not really expecting him to. Except he _totally does._

"I was embarrassed," he states, and Lily is sort of offended, the fact that he's pretty much saving her arse notwithstanding. Judging by the smirk on his face, he seems to notice it, and adds, ", it's just that I—uh, cheated on her. With her cousin."

"For the love of God, James," Mr. Potter mutters, "we raised you better than this. What will your mother say?"

Lily notices the way James' cheeks darken slightly, and the way his Adam's apple bobs in his throat. "That the least we can do is offer her some tea? I mean, it's one in the morning, but I've clearly caused her irreparable emotional damage and so I feel like we owe it to her."

Mr. Potter glances at his son and sighs. . Then, turning to Lily, he adds with a shrug of his shoulders, "I'm sorry my son is a such disgrace. Do you want to come in for a second?"

She's still too dumbstruck for words, so she simply nods and follows the two of them inside.

The house is warm and inviting, but not too hot, which is a nice change from the scorching weather outside. The walls are tastefully decorated, and just from the get-go, Lily can spot at least three different house plants.

"So, Lily, what motivated you to resort to _eggs_? That's pretty old-school, isn't it?"

"I am _so_ sorry about that, Mr. Potter—"

"Please, call me Fleamont."

"Right," Lily laughs uncomfortably, "you see, the thing is, I was dared. And you know how dares go..."

She feels her phone buzzing in her pocket, and when she unlocks it, there are three unread messages in the groupchat.

 ** _01:23 a.m._**

 ** _Mary Christmas_ **_: Oh my god, Lily, Dorcas just told me_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: has he skinned u alive yet?_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: I'll take ur silence as a yes. still cant believe u went inside tho_

Lily promptly texts back.

 ** _Orchid_ **_: yes we all knew I have a death wish_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: txt later go home + sleep_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: ok mother_

"I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"You know, Lily," Mr. Pot— _Fleamont_ starts. "You remind me of myself when I was your age."

James coughs.

"Oh?"

"Yes. Euphemia's dad also found me egging her house one time. Except, you know, she hadn't _cheated_ on me," he adds, side-eyeing James.

"Come _on,_ dad."

"You've made your bed, son," Fleamont replies, clapping his hand on James' right shoulder. "It's time you lay down in it."

 **02.09 a.m.**

 ** _Orchid_ **_:: ok but like_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: james potter's dad is the /best at throwing shade? I suddenly feel the need to name my firstborn after him?_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: ?_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: so deadass he comes to talk to me and I'm practically shitting my pants because of /course I would be the one to egg a copper's house, so I panicked and told him I was his son's ex? and then potter came outside and actually played along_

 ** _Mary Christmas_** _:_ hoe don't do it

 ** _Orchid_ ****:** _and so now mr potter is under the impression his son is a cheater when in fact he's just really terrible at maths_

 ** _Mary Christmas_ **_: oh my god_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: I think I'm in love_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: Of course, out of the three of us you'd be the one getting a sugar daddy_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: don't be an ass dorc_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: oh wait_

She gets home impossibly late, but since it _is the_ summer holidays, Lily doesn't feel that guilty about waking up at two o'clock the next day. And, all right, that means so far her mother has had to put up with Vernon and Petunia by herself, but Lily reckons it was about time she took one for the team.

She gets out of bed, a grin dancing on her lips, and heads for the shower.

It's about a half past three in the afternoon when she finally emerges from the bathroom, hangover-free.

"Oh goodness, Vernon, why is she like this?" shrills Petunia, so loud that the thumping in Lily's head comes back.

In response, Lily simply rolls her eyes, shoots her sister a snappy _'good morning, sister dearest'_ and after pecking her mother on the cheek, heads out the door.

It's sunny out, and Lily quickly regrets having skipped through the sun cream-applying part of her routine. She blares _Gasolina_ through her earphones—courtesy of Sirius Black from Economics, of course—and before she knows it, she's at her favourite coffee shop.

The whole scene is drawn in heavy lines and brown undertones, and the barista—Frank—is about to give Lily her iced coffee when she feels muscular arms around her shoulders.

She doesn't really know how she recognizes him, but the fact is that she does; maybe it's because he's wearing the same cologne from last night. Maybe it's because there's someone up above who likes playing tricks on her, but either way, it makes Lily feel sort of giddy inside.

Um. Interesting.

"What do you want, Potter?" she asks, slowly removing his arm from around her shoulders and thanking Frank for his patience.

"Now, Evans, that isn't a very nice way of greeting your ex-boyfriend."

"You're _not_ my ex-boyfriend."

"That's not what you told my dad, was it?" he asks with curious eyes, and a smirk that makes Lily feel some kind of way.

"Look," she starts, placing the plastic cup on a nearby table and adjusting the strap of her bag. "I was pretty fucking drunk, okay? And then, I dunno, Dorcas and Mary dared me to go egg Snape's house but I clearly got things mixed up and ended up at yours instead."

"Where does the ex-boyfriend it come in? I fail to see the correlation."

"First of all, don't sass me. And secondly, your dad's a copper. So yeah. It was either that or go to jail."

"Jesus Christ, Evans," James chuckles, running a hand through his messy hair, "my dad wasn't going to _arrest_ you."

Suddenly, Lily's cheeks warm up. "He could have," she mutters. "Thank you, by the way. For going along with it."

"It's no big deal," he brushes off. "It would be my absolute pleasure to be your ex-boyfriend."

"Aren't you a charmer," she replies, rolling her eyes. "You going anywhere?"

"Not really? I don't think so, at least. I mean, Sirius has this family thing and Peter is out of town."

"Remus, then?"

"He's sick. You know how he gets with allergies."

 **05.39 p.m.**

 ** _Orchid_ **_:: are any of u Regent's park atm?_

 ** _Mary Christmas_ **_: not really, Dorky and I are at the movies, why?_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: don't ever call me that again_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: 1) without me? umm rUDE_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: 2) cool stay there_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: Lily_

 ** _Mary Christmas_ **_: you do know that now we absolutely /have to come, don't you?_

 ** _Mary Christmas_ **_: and I was enjoying the film as well_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: give us 12 and a half minutes_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: specific_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: also unnecessary_

"So, Mary and Dorcas are coming over in about fifteen minutes," Lily starts, releasing her red hair from the black rubber band. "Which gives us approximately ten minutes to find another location."

"What," he jokes, "are you embarrassed of me?"

"Surprisingly not. Shocking, I _know_."

"You think you're funny."

"I'm hilarious."

 **09.08 p.m.**

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: were you on a date with james potter?_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: ?_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: define date_

 ** _Mary Christmas_ **_: !_

 ** _Mary Christmas_ **_: lily!_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: yes, mary dear?_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: oh my god_

 ** _Dork-ass_ **_: you're such a /meme_

 ** _Orchid_ **_: here come dat boi shit waddup_

It takes them two whole hours before they make plans to hang out again. After some squabbling and food preference related arguments—Lily is team pineapple pizza, while James is decidedly against it—the two of them settle on going to the cinema and checking out the new Spiderman film.

Lily isn't really sure if it counts as a date, but for her own sanity's sake, she's taking it as a _yes_.

There's a flower blooming in her chest, and Lily reckons it's probably going to be a little weird for him to explain to his dad that he's made plans to hang out with his ex, (who he cheated on with a family member and who was caught throwing protein goods at his rose-tinted windows), but he called her a 'pineapple-munching-fuck' before and so she doesn't really care.

Soon, the films turn into walks in the park, which end up more than once in water balloon fights. It's hot out, and they've got no classes to worry about, and everything is blissful ignorance for the pair of them. Friendly waves make way for one-armed hugs, and casual touches turn into lingering ones.

Their nights end up with personality quizzes and wine passing back and forth, and Lily is _certain_ she saw Sirius and Mary snogging once or twice, but the point is, they are happy and they are _free_.

Her sister is getting married to Vernon Dursley and she asked Potter to go as her plus-one—on the condition that he somehow finds a way to manage that awful hair, of course.

(Lily doesn't _actually_ dislike his hair; In fact, she's quite enamoured with it, which is dangerous and makes her want to rip all the skin from off her bones and run her thin fingers through the dark locks. She's pretty sure she's dreamed about it a couple of times now.)

She's wearing a canary-yellow dress, and strappy white heels she _knows_ won't stand a chance against all the alcohol she plans on consuming.

He picks her up in a dashing black-tie outfit and Lily _swears_ it knocks the wind out of her, because in her humble opinion, it should be illegal to look this good. She's almost tempted to feel inadequate, but when she notices the way Potter's eyes lighten up as soon as he sees her, the way his shoulders straighten and his cheeks perk up, staring at her like she's some sort of goddess, she smiles.

"Potter?" she asks, the butterflies in her stomach flopping about like they're on five cups of coffee.

"Yes?"

"Care to be promoted?"

"What d'you mean?"

"You know, from ex-boyfriend to current boyfriend."

James stills, mouth slightly agape as Lily continues, "I mean, I reckon that means coming clean to your dad about the whole egg thing, but I guess that's a risk I'm willing to take?"

Then, so slowly it almost feels like slow-motion, a smirk stretches across James' lips and he says, "Evans, you're so fucking ridiculous."

"Well, we'd already established that, but thanks." He's still grinning like an idiot when Lily adds," well, you're not very good at this, are you? A cute girl practically _proposes_ and you don't even answer—"

She's cut off by his lips, which James is happy to press against hers. The whole thing is a mess, to be perfectly honest, because the both of them are way too busy laughing to properly kiss each other, but Lily wouldn't really have it any other way.

In the end, they get to the ceremony twenty minutes late, Vernon forgets his vows two thirds of the way in, Petunia swears one day she'll have Lily burnt off the metaphorical family tree and Uncle Geoff tries to get it on with the catering lady who looks about twenty years too young for him. It's all good though.

During the reception, everyone stuffs themselves with cake—which is a lemon sponge with white chocolate frosting—and overdoes it on the champagne.

Petunia, slightly more tipsy than she'd ever admit, lets her _know_ just how _happy_ she is to have her sister there, and Lily can almost see the sarcasm oozing from Petunia's lips. She feels something tug at her heartstrings, and Lily is pretty sure it's love, and the pain of being surpassed. It's especially hard this time, because now Petunia's part of a different family, and Lily knows it won't take her sister long before she forgets all about her.

She feels Potter pulling her closer to him and nuzzles her face on his chest. Her body, cold and blue before, is now a portrait painted in technicolour.

Lily isn't really sure how any of it happened, how she tiptoed her way into finding her home away from home, her best friend, the companion to all of her craziest adventures. When she's with him, she feels invincible, like she can do anything and there isn't anything holding her back.

And so, Lily reckons she may not have a sister anymore, but she has the warmth of the sun, and James Potter at her side. And that's enough.


End file.
